O.C. Co-Chair of Prop. 187 Says Judge Is ‘Stonewalling’

Barbara Coe, the Huntington Beach resident who co-chaired the Proposition 187 campaign, said she is undaunted by a federal judge’s ruling Friday that the core provisions of the voter-approved initiative are unconstitutional.

“No way are we going to roll over,” Coe said. “We will continue our efforts, and we are growing daily.”

Coe had strong words for U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer, whom she accuses of “stonewalling” on making a final ruling on the measure, which puts limits on government benefits to illegal immigrants.

“Good, bad or indifferent, give us a ruling so we can take it forward,” Coe said. “Get us out of your court so we can go forward. The people are absolutely helpless . . . at this person’s mercy.”

But local opponents to the measure lauded Pfaelzer’s opinion, which marked the second time since 1995 that the judge has ruled that most of Proposition 187 is unconstitutional.

“We are very pleased,” said Amin David, leader of Los Amigos of Orange County, a grass-roots civil rights group. “It reaffirms our belief in the doctrine of fairness in the United States. Initiatives, although very popular with the majority of the people, can be found to not fit constitutional tests and other court criteria.”

Coe, who heads the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, said she strongly believes the measure is legally sound and would stand up in the U.S. Supreme Court, where she expects it to eventually land.

“To go into an appeal is going to be very positive on our behalf,” Coe said. “Although we preceded the 1996 [federal welfare law] legislation, we are both on the same page with denying tax-funded benefits to people who are in violation of federal law: illegal aliens. We are in total compliance with the federal legislation signed in 1996.”

Coe is also vice president of the new National Grassroots Alliance, a coalition formed in the hope of rekindling public enthusiasm for tough anti-immigration laws. The group is being backed and initially funded by the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform.

“We will prevail over this treachery that is occurring and over the victimization of American citizens,” she said.

But Msgr. Jaime Soto, the Hispanic affairs vicar for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, said Friday that the church believes the responsibility to speak out against the “ill will” of such immigration measures.

“There continues to persist the idea that immigrants are attracted here by the benefits,” Soto said. “The reality that I see day in and day out is that they come here seeking employment and hoping to unite themselves with their families. All efforts to make life more bitter for them are built on the wrong assumption.”

Los Amigos’ David said he hopes Friday’s ruling will spell the beginning of the end of the controversy.

“Let us wrap up the 187 syndrome and move on,” he said. “We must move on in attending to those things that need attending to and continue the dialogue on situations that cause poverty and cause havoc in our communities.”